Musings: And So It Goes

My neighbor Andy was already ahead of us when Koko and I set out walking this morning. She lunged toward him, pulling me forward, and though I jogged a little to bridge the gap, we lost ground when Koko stopped to pee. I tried to get his attention by letting loose with a quiet, in deference to the hour, “hoo-ey,” but to Andy, I learned later, it sounded like a little bark. Perhaps I’ve been spending too much time with Koko.

Anyway, after a cheery talk that led us to agree that the world was doomed because overpopulation will essentially create the same impacts as global climate change, so either way we’re all screwed, we arrived back at Andy's driveway, where The Garden Island had recently been delivered.

“Uh oh,” he said, glancing at the headline that read Tractor vandalism, mechanized clearing cloud Larsen’s debate. “This is not good.”

No, it is not, because it strengthens Waioli Corp.’s position in saying, “See, these are the kind of lawless people we’re dealing with, and that’s why we need a fence to keep them off our land.”

Meanwhile, the attorney representing those opposed to the fencing project fired back that Waioli’s lessee, Bruce Laymon, was involved in his own lawless behavior.

And so the polarization continues.

Just as it does with the bike path, now that Mayor Bernard Carvalho has announced that it’s full speed ahead with plans to have it straddle the dunes and highway shoulder at Wailua Beach.

He could have just left it at that, but instead had to offer this platitude:

“I want to acknowledge everyone who provided input on this matter, especially our Hawaiian community who shared their concerns, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Federal Highway Administration, and the state Department of Transportation Highways Division.”

And that pissed off cultural practitioner Kehau Kekua, who told The Garden island she was “insulted” by the mayor’s “empty words,” adding:

“We have repeatedly offered our ‘ike (knowledge) and expertise, only to be ignored and denied any consideration.”

Truly, few things are more aggravating than to be totally blown off, especially by a mayor who claimed to want your input.

The Wailua Beach announcement was coupled with the news that the Path’s route has been altered again, and now will go behind the Coconut Marketplace resorts, rather than mauka along the canal.

This whole boondoggle of a project is being done in such a piecemeal, ad hoc fashion. And like the Superferry, it’s still not clear just how much it has cost, although it’s got to be quite a lot, considering that the small section between Kuamoo and Papaloa, as well as the spur to Kapaa Heights, will cost some $7.2 million.

That’s a lot of dough just to get eastsiders off their asses and out exercising, which of course they could have been doing already by walking on the beach or cane haul road.

Heck, it might actually have been cheaper, and caused far less angst, to buy them all gym memberships.

But hey, enough of the serious stuff. Here’s a little video clip that made me laugh this morning, and that's always appreciated, so I'm sharing it with you.